Washington

Human Genome Sciences (HGS), a biotechnology company that epitomized the promise of genomic medicine, is laying off 200 of its 1,000 employees and parting ways with its charismatic chief executive, William Haseltine.

Haseltine says that he was the one who initiated his retirement from the company, which is based in Rockville, Maryland. The former Harvard AIDS researcher, who founded the company in 1992, says his skills are not the commercial ones now needed to make drugs available for patients. HGS board members confirm that Haseltine was not ousted.

The company also announced on 25 March that it was jettisoning several drugs in early-stage development to focus on its five most promising candidates, which include LymphoStat-B for rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus — now in phase II trials.

Some industry observers say the changes in the company, which follow a cut of 7% of employees last December, are normal for a biotech company as its drugs near commercialization. “It is just a natural part of the evolution of a company in drug development,” says Robert Eaton, president of MdBio, a non-profit organization that supports biotechnology in Maryland.

Others disagree. “Things are getting tough at HGS and Haseltine's leaving the ship when it looks as though there are reefs in the distance,” says Alan Walton at venture-capital firm Oxford Bioscience Partners in Westport, Connecticut, who helped launch HGS.

HGS has $1.3 billion in cash, but still lacks a drug close to commercial launch. Its shares, of which Haseltine owns 6 million, are worth $12, compared with $232 at their peak in March 2000.

Haseltine's departure echoes that of his long-time rival Craig Venter who left Celera Genomics, also based in Rockville, in January 2002. Both men are aggressive scientific entrepreneurs who seduced Wall Street with high profit expectations that are so far unfulfilled. Their rivalry developed during a contentious partnership between HGS and The Institute for Genomic Research, a non-profit research organization founded by Venter, which ended in 1997.

The HGS board plans to hire a chief executive by the autumn and already has a list of candidates. Haseltine will retire once his successor is named.